FAQs about Kids Eyes

Answers to commonly asked questions:

Question 1: Can reading for long hours weaken my eye sight?

Answer 1: No. Reading for long hours  does not weaken the eyes in the long term. What could happen is that the eye muscles could get tired temporarily and cause eye strain, discomfort, feeling of eye pain etc      

   

Question 2: Can reading in bad light eventually weaken my eye sight?

Answer 2: No. Reading in bad light does not weaken eyesight. Reading in good light is recommended to prevent eye strain and fatigue.

Question 3: Too much artificial light is harmful for my eyes?

Answer 3: No. Artificial light is not harmful in the short or long term. As mentioned earlier natural light is recommended to reduce eye strain.

Question 4: Is any light better than the other?

Answer 4: White light is preferable especially in the kids room and the light at the reading desk should come from the behind you.

Question 5: Is too much mobile time or i Pad time harmful for my kids eyes ?
Answer 5: Yes. It affects your childs eye sight, it affects his health (cause of childhood obesity) and his mental health. In fact China and Singapore are doing a study into this. They were the first onto an electronic gadget boom. Now almost 99% of their children are Myopes.

Question 6: Is colour blindness common, and if detected early can it be cured?

Answer 6: Colour blindness in not common, but is more prevalent in boys than girls. There is no cure for colour blindness at any age. There are some new glasses being marketted as making a vast difference in the vision of a Colour blind. It is not so. Check them out yourself.

Does Eye Yoga / Sampoorna Eye Yoga help?

I say this plainly and unreservedly : Eye Yoga / Sampoorna Eye Clinic (and Yoga) to reduce your spectacle power or your squint is all bunkum and tomfoolery. It is a risk and game played with your childs eyes.

If anyone can prove via scientific methods and measurement, that it worked and permanently reduced the numbers or the squint, i shall pay for the entire treatment, whatever the cost.

You can show this Blog/Statement to any of these Yoga Centres, if you wish, and ask for their written response. Do not waste my time with conversations and words said by someone else. Please get written response and guarantee from the Eye Yoga people.

Lets us get some facts straight.

If your child has glasses, firstly, your child needs to be seen by a Kids Eye Specialist every 6 months.

If you ignore the 6 month check and get involved with nonsense like Eye Yoga/ Ayurvedic medicine, you are risking making your child weak in vision, for lifetime.

If your child is Myopic (minus numbers) the numbers will increase till age 21. No power on earth can prevent that.

If your child is Hypermetropic, the numbers may reduce with advancing age, but needs to be monitored.

If your child does not wear the exact glasses, the risk he faces is : weak eyes, headache, squint, weak health.

Now coming to this Eye Yoga.

If you obsessively wished to be like the strongest man on earth, you can exercise and temporarily bring your body into a state 'near' that well built body state. That does not make you the strongest man. Also once you leave the obsessive exercising, your body will go back to how it was before. THIS is what Eye Yoga does. Fools you into a sense of improvement and well being.

So these Eye Yoga people, like magicians who hoodwink you, they fool you with changed measurement systems and distances to show you improvement and deceive you.

And even if they can show you a temporary and minimal change, that change shall revert back to as it was in a short time. The "short time", shall have wasted your time and money and the "window period" available for your childs visual improvement.

The treating of Number/ Squint/ Cataract/ Retinopathy with Eye Yoga and Ayurveda is nonsense and it is a game you are playing with your eyes.

Does my Child need glasses?

It is a very tough question, to answer flippantly via broad answers. We are talking about a child"s health and vision and future. 

And yet how does a parent recognise whether their child has an eye problem?

If your child is born premature or underweight, then an Eye Exam, or more specifically: a Retina Exam, is necessary in within 30 days of birth, even if the child is in the Neonatal Unit or NICU.

After this in the early months usually a mother picks out small  signs. 

When the child is not able to focus on mothers face or toy handed to it. 

When the child is not interested in surroundings. 
When the child absolutely does not want to move from the position it has been placed in. 

When there is a Face turn or a Head Tilt (abnormal Head Posture).  

When there are Rapid jerky movements of eyes (Nystagmus). 

When there is aversion to light. 

When there is abnormal watering. 

A white coloration in centre of the black cornea. 
Too large eyes. 

There is a squint.
Theses are some very easy and early markers.

After this, in the Developed Nations, an Eye Exam is mandatory to take admission into Pre school. This way the nation encourages Preventive Health Care, and encourages a healthier citizen.

The purpose is that a Kids Eye Doctor can pick out glasses at a very early age and hence give your child good vision and a healthier life style. 

You should also get your child examined at 2-3 years of age by a Kids Eye Doctor.

Now comes the age group of 2 years to 6 years. This is now assuming that you have NOT been to see a Kids Eye Doctor as yet. 

The signs that a parent can pick out are: 

The child sits too close to the TV. 

The child is not too interested in running around and playing.

The child has a face turn or head tilt while watching TV or normally too. 

The child puts a finger near the eye while watching TV and pressing at corner of eye. 

The child has a Squint. 

There is Nystagmus. 

Child bangs into things frequently while running around. 

Play a game with a child: read number plates/ road name plates while driving in a car. See if the child is able to read what you are able to read.

Holds a book too close while reading. 

Wrong copying of notes in a class room (improves when the child is brought to first benches).
These are all signs for a parent to pick out.

Because: The first some years are necessary for "development of vision" and the next years till age 10 are necessary for "consolidation and growth of that vision".

IF you miss this "crucial window period" your child will have weak eyes/ lazy eyes/ less vision for lifetime.

IF you have detected any problem with your tiny tots eyes, the earlier you see a Kids Eye Doctor, the more time the doctor gets in the "crucial window period" to do treatment or give glasses and bring your child's vision to normal.